Rich Hanna, the current Sacramento Cowtown director finishes the first 1977 Sacramento Marathon in 1977 at 3:01 while 13 years old. The race discontinued in 2004, but changed identity to Sacramento Cowtown.
October 1, 2000 4:45:55
I ran Sacramento as a training run for the Silicon Valley Marathon which was a big mistake considering I had one marathon under my belt before this run. By now the Sacramento marathon was on it's last legs and a very small out and back times two, so watching the half marathoners quit was deflating as I turned around to run another 13.1 miles. I thought, gosh Old Town Sacramento is six miles away, then I have to run back again, ouch! This great old race was very difficult to run as there was not much crowd participation in 2000, but I did have someone help me finish, a young man that encouraged me and actually ran along with me the last mile in his street clothes because I was pretty drained. I realized this was much more then a training run, it was 26.2 miles!
The marathon is a race against one person, just yourself! It is the most psychologically demanding of all runing events because it requres that the mind withstand enormous stress, fatigue, tension and pain. I managed to get a hold of two of the finisher medals above and they are great medals and collectors items so I framed one. This was a first class event for many years and they were very nice to me and a little girl put the medal around my neck at the finish line, which I consider an honor now that I look back.
